A devastated family have told of the “terrible mistake” which led to the brutal death of a dad-of-three by a knife-wielding madman.

Benjamin Frankum, 26, stabbed Daniel Quelch from Spencers Wood more than 80 times and slit his throat in a motiveless killing Judge Zoe Smith described as “truly horrific” as he slept next to his two-year-old son.

At Reading Crown Court yesterday paranoid schizophrenic Frankum was sectioned indefinitely at Broadmoor Hospital under the Mental Health Act after a jury unanimously found him culpable of the murder.

Mr Quelch, 33, a landscape gardener, was staying at his parents’ home in Cherry Garden Lane in Maidenhead with his three young children when Frankum attacked on August 23, last year.

Outside the court his mother Barbara paid tribute to her and husband Ernest’s “beloved son” as she reflected on the tragic loss which has shattered their lives.

She said: “It has been a terrible year – just the beginning of a nightmare that will never end. Everything in our lives has changed forever by this one brutal crime.

“Not only have we lost our son, but we have also lost the home that we had built up to be all we ever wanted and the 26 years of memories that go with it. We cannot bring ourselves to live there now, we know we will not be able to replace it.

“Danny was a very gentle man, with a lovely smile and lovely eyes. His loss has changed our lives and affected the whole family forever.”

Following the verdict, statements were read out in court revealing how the horror haunted and crushed the Quelch family with thoughts of suicide and guilt.

In the statement, Mrs Quelch said: “I see Danny’s killer’s face in my mind all the time and see him laughing at me when he said I should see the mess in my house.

“I have often thought about giving the children and myself an overdose of sleeping pills so we won’t feel any more pain.

“A terrible mistake was made when Benjamin Frankum was released from care as he clearly needs to be, and should be, in a safe place so no one else has to suffer the way we have.”

Mr Quelch, who was away in Canada at the time of the murder, added: “All I can think about is the horrific way he died and how he suffered. I have found it very difficult to block it out, to sleep and I have nightmares.

“I feel so much to blame. I should have been there to protect my family. It should have been me that was killed as Danny was sleeping in my bed.”

Frankum had been found unfit to stand trial and the jury of seven men and five women were sworn in to consider if he was responsible for the murder.

The family now face an agonising wait as they await an independent inquiry into the events leading up to the killing, which they pray will help avoid a similar tragedy.

Following the hearing, Denis Burke, complex casework unit lawyer for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “This was everybody’s worse nightmare. There was no motive whatsoever and the circumstances of the killing of Mr Quelch arose entirely as a result of Benjamin Frankum’s mental illness, paranoid schizophrenia, which meant his actions were entirely random.”